


But with fear comes courage

by modest_hermit



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Armpit Kink, Confessional Sex, M/M, Meg is only mentioned, Switching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:33:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29181822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/modest_hermit/pseuds/modest_hermit
Summary: Zagreus gives Thanatos a Valentine's day present.
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 69





	But with fear comes courage

**Author's Note:**

> Thanzag_enthusiast made some lovely fanart sketches here: https://imgur.com/a/rwRmRsa
> 
> I’m so grateful for your art! Thank you for letting me share it. 😊

Zagreus didn’t anticipate Thanatos would come to his chambers straight away. The swift fluidity of his body was straight out of his daydreams. It was pure _eagerness._ Thanatos’s eyes were hooded. His head was not, letting his hair catch the light of the torches in the bedroom. He was so much more beautiful awake than Zagreus could conceive of asleep. 

“You wanted to see me?” he asked. Zagreus swallowed the lump in his throat. _Fear is for the weak_ , he reminded himself. _But with fear comes courage_ , _that counts for something...right?_

“I wanted to give you something. Privately,” replied Zagreus. 

“Ambrosia?” guessed Thanatos. 

“Well, yes, that’s part of it.” Zagreus offered the flask. Thanatos took it, but instead of tucking it under his robe into one of his many pockets, he drank. Not the whole, but at least a quarter before replacing the cork and drawing a thumb over his plump bottom lip.

“And the other?” he asked.

Zagreus swallowed.

“Achilles told me once that mortals have a certain...tradition. On the first fortnight of the second moon, those imbued with the abundance of Aphrodite give a token to someone they care about.” Zagreus pulled out the carved-bone pendant from his pocket, which hung from a leather braid. He handed it to him. Thanatos stared at it with a silent intensity that turned Zagreus’s stomach. 

“Surely…” Thanatos paused, “...surely you have given something to Megara as well?”

“No, nor will I,” replied Zagreus. He saw Thanatos’s jaw clench the smallest fraction. It was different from his father’s habit, in which he could see Hades grind his teeth from far away. Thanatos was far more subtle. More subdued.

“I saw you two in the garden.” 

Zagreus felt his face prickle with embarrassment. Yes, practically everyone and their great great _great_ aunt saw Meg kiss him in the garden. They also saw him pull her deeper into the foliage, which in retrospect was probably interpreted as something far more illicit than it actually was. 

“Nothing happened between us. I turned her down, Tan,” replied Zagreus, invoking the childhood nickname of many lifetimes past. “I know who I want to give this to, and it’s yours, if you want it."

“A heart?” Thanatos asked, a wry smile on his lips. 

“A heart with a skeleton head inside. I made sure it matched your aesthetic.” Zagreus defended.

“And yours, it seems. This is a canine skull, is it not?” Thanatos dragged a fingertip into the divots of the carving.

“I’ve always been a three-headed dog kinda guy. You know that.”

“I know.” He unclasped the necklace and wore it. “Well. It does go,” he remarked, half under his breath.

Thanatos looked at Zagreus, his golden gaze soft. It was very much unlike the hard, unreadable exterior he usually fronted while on the job. It made Zagreus wonder if he ever wasn’t on the job.

“It’s curious,” said Thanatos, “Usually you never invite me to your chambers when you give me such things.”

“I didn’t want an audience,” replied Zagreus. The hardened lump had sunk into his stomach, pressing painfully against his bowels. _I only wanted you to see this._

“An audience to what?” he asked, his voice lowered to a murmur. He drew closer. His sandaled feet made contact with the ground, the sound sending a shiver of anticipation up Zagreus’s spine.

He reached out, gripping Thanatos by his belt, and kissed him. What met him was a surprise. Thanatos’s mouth wasn’t dry, like Meg’s, but _wet_. His lips were equally slippery and soft, not to mention his tongue. But that came later, when Zagreus broke away to breathe and Thanatos’s hands cupped his face and brought him back. 

“You know what,” Zagreus retorted, the moment he could form words. He pushed his hips forward, letting his hardness drag against Thanatos’s thigh.

“To seduce me?” Thanato’s grumbled. One pale hand arrested his hip. 

“Am I succeeding?” he asked. 

Thanatos picked him up, as if he weighed nothing, and moved them to the bed. Zagreus rolled on top of him, dragging his mouth from the hollow of Thanatos’s throat up over his chin. He eagerly started to palm Thanatos’s pauldron. It slipped off the bed with a clatter. He hardly noticed, as the heady scent of Thanatos’s sweat drew him closer. His mind was thoughtless as he pressed his face into the curve of Thanatos’s axilla and inhaled.

“Are you…” Zagreus heard him clear his throat, fully prepared to abandon his venture at Death’s armpit, “why does that feel good?”

Zagreus answered by suckling here. Thanatos shivered beneath him. 

“You’re ticklish,” he stated, dragging his nose through Thanatos’s translucent hair. He returned his attention to it, laving at the roots. The spice of his skin wasn’t earthy, like he’d expected, but an indeterminate flavor. Something herbal. It must’ve been his mother’s blood in him that made him love it so.

“Insatiable,” Thanatos groaned. 

“You got something else for me to suck, Tan?” Zagreus mumbled, his mouth full. Thanatos spread his legs beneath him, rolled his hips. His erection bumped against Zagreus’s stomach. 

“Mmmh, even better.” He grinned, pressing a chaste kiss to Thanato’s lips before crawling down his body. He pushed aside the black chiton, smiling so hard his cheeks hurt. Thanatos was dressed down. In fact, he was bare—his lovely cock already dripping. “I’ve dreamt about sucking you off like this.”

In response, Thanatos raised his hips. 

“Quit dreaming then.” 

Zagreus licked his lips. They were cracked from his endless worrying on them. Hopefully Thanatos couldn’t feel it, he thought, taking the head into his mouth. 

Here, too, he was soft. The first time Zagreus had taken his hand, he’d marveled at the velvet brush of his palm. His warmth surprised him too. He supposed even the son of Hades thought that Death could only feel cold. 

Thanatos’s cock was hot in his mouth. It was the pleasurable, deep heat of a steaming bath, or the first sip of freshly boiled tea. He wanted to make it hotter, to send electricity through Thanatos’s veins until he cried out. Zagreus fondled his sack, watching as Thanatos covered his mouth. 

“I want to hear you,” he said. Thanatos moaned quiet and low in his throat. He let out a breathy gasp as Zagreus licked the underside of his sack, then sucked one into his mouth.

“Gods,” uttered Thanatos. It was the last coherent word he articulated before his face scrunched up, idle hands suddenly gripping Zagreus’s hair and pulling. The sharp burning in his scalp made him groan. He took hold of Thanatos’s hips, fucking his cock deeper into his throat. Zagreus didn’t care that his eyes stung. He didn’t notice how much he was sweating as he took and took, urging on Thanatos’s hips to ravish his face. 

_Ruin me_ , he thought.

Thanatos’s body jerked beneath him. He tore his cock from Zagreus’s mouth, spilling over their grasping fingers and down his taint. Zagreus moved to lap at it from velveteen skin before a hand pushed him away. 

“Not yet,” said Thanatos. He swirled his fingers in his release, then pressed them to the tight ring of his hole. Zagreus gaped as they easily slid inside with a loud _squelch._

“Fuck,” he exclaimed.

“What, did you think you were the only one fantasizing?” Death smirked. Zagreus watched as he fingered himself. Thanatos’s expression faltered into serious concentration. He was preparing himself so earnestly it made him ache. Zagreus took himself in his hand and stroked. Thanatos added another finger, his eyes flickering from Zagreus, down to his length, then back again. 

“What do you think of when you do this?” asked Zagreus.

“A golden wreath rising from the Pool of Styx. You, naked, with blood dripping down—” he cut himself off with a moan. He’d found that spot, Zagreus guessed. He throbbed in his own hand. He would touch it as they joined, he would thrust against Thanatos’s flesh and Thanatos would buck against him in reply. 

“I can arrange that, later,” offered Zagreus. He would parade around nude more often if it meant giving Thanatos an excuse to be around the House. Ever responsible, the complete opposite of himself, Death could use a break. 

“Take the rest of _that_ off, first,” said Thanatos, gesturing to Zagreus’s mussed chiton. His belt was too tight around his waist. He unfastened it, and his pauldron. His lover’s eyes trailed up his body, catching at his abdomen. He’d grown more taut over his escapades, the muscle thicker than before. His arousal stood proudly there, resting beneath the dip of his stomach.

Thanatos raised a hand and placed it against the expanse of him, his chest, his stomach, curling around his sack, his touch whisper soft.

“You want this with me.” It wasn’t phrased like a question, but Zagreus caught the underlying threads of meaning. Are you sure? I want this. You want this?

“Yes.” Zagreus aligned himself but moved no further, looking into Thanatos’s eyes. 

He sighed, tension leaving his face. His shoulders dropped a fraction. Had he been prepared for this to stop, even now?

“I’m not going to leave once we’ve finished, Tan. I’ll still cuddle with you,” he teased.

“I wasn’t worried,” he replied. Liar. Zagreus would let it slide. He’d let just about anything go at this point, at how close he was to bursting. A soft hand took a hold of him, and Zagreus made a breathy sound.

“I need you,” breathed Zagreus. 

“Here I am,” replied Thanatos. At last, his heat sunk down around him. It was hotter than his cock in Zagreus’s mouth. It was almost like Asphodel, except it was devastatingly pleasurable as opposed to painful. 

Zagreus was aware his mouth was moving but he formed no words. His voice box was broken, save for the long vibrating moans that were pulled out of him with each thrust and drag. The sensation of him meeting Thanatos’s flesh was as slippery as his mouth. 

He sought out his face, kissing his cheeks, sucking at his tongue as though it were nectar, sucking harsh marks into that fair skin. He needed with a greatness that was foreign to his body. His mind needed Thanatos, his heart needed his embrace, his body needed the joining, the fucking, the lewd sounds escaping Thanatos’s mouth.

He felt something in his sloppy thrusts, and Thanatos keened. 

“There,” he rasped. “ _There.”_

 _“Here,”_ Zagreus groaned in reply. He was so beautiful, Zagreus could cry and be okay with it. “Fuck! So beautiful, gods, gods, you are-” 

Thanatos ungracefully mashed their lips together. Zagreus couldn’t stop making noise. He wasn’t even conscious of it anymore. The strands of his vocal chords were echoing of their own accord. 

_I need you, Tan. I need you, I need you I need you I need you-_

He didn’t feel himself start to cum. Zagreus was so far into his own head that it took his orgasm hitting him in the face to realize he was ejaculating. Literally.

“Zagreus,” groaned Thanatos. His cock had slipped out, and he was currently thrusting against his lover’s weeping length. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he gasped. He repositioned, kneeling between Thanatos’s legs. Zagreus took his cock in one hand, and pushed his fingers inside of him. He was too flaccid now to finish him off, so this would have to do.

Thanatos hissed, furiously fucking himself into Zagreus fist.

“Finish in me next time,” he managed to groan, precisely before he spilled over them both. 

Zagreus watched in awe as Thanatos still clenched around his fingers. He softly continued to stroke his cock, gently kissing the tip. He didn’t know where to stop, and that if he stopped, that it would never happen again. So he escalated until he slowly came to a stop.

He laid down, burying his face into the cradle of Thantato’s armpit. 

“So this _is_ a thing for you,” said Thanatos, muffling a snort under his breath. 

“It’s not my fault you smell so good,” retorted Zagreus.

“Not tits, not ass, not even my cock,” muttered Thanatos. Idly, he started to stroke Zagreus’s hair. 

“It means you’re special, Tan,” he mumbled, his eyes drooping. The spice of Death’s skin was lulling him to sleep. 

“Not yet. I’m not finished with you.” Thanatos kissed him. “Come here.”

Zagreus chuckled as Thanatos parted his thighs, watching realization bloom in his expression. 

“You prepared yourself…” his voice trailed off, mirroring his voice with a probing finger. It slid in easily, curling against Zagreus’s walls. 

“I wanted to have you, no matter the position,” replied Zagreus, “honestly, I expected you to fight back a little when I got on top of you.”

“Did I surprise you?” Thanatos murmured, taking the shell of his ear into his mouth. He added another finger. 

“Thought you were gonna break my jaw the way you were fucking my mouth.” Zagreus grinned, then laugh-moaned as Thanatos stretched him open. He was making him even more pliant. Zagreus had never been pleasured in this way. He was never interested in being on the receiving end, that is, until his first fantasy of Thanatos. Since then, he’d come with cock in one hand and pump fingers inside himself with the other. The swelling sensation of being filled was unparalleled. 

“You’re so vocal.” He felt Thanatos’s smirk as he twisted his fingers around. 

“You like it,” replied Zagreus, slurring his words out in exaggeration. He thrusted against Thanato’s fingers. “Come on, Tan. I can take you.” 

Zagreus found himself against the mattress. Thanatos pressed his head against the lip of his asshole.

“Hook your legs over my shoulders,” he said. His lips were sucked in, a telltale nervous tic. Zagreus obeyed, reaching to stroke his lover’s arm. 

“Hey. You good?” he asked. 

“Mhhm. I think so.” Thanatos’s brow scrunched in. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Hell yeah,” replied Zagreus. When in hell, he thought, it was appropriate to make endless jokes at its expense.

Thanatos rolled his eyes, a small smile softening his concentrated features. 

Zagreus took a deep breath and expelled it. Thanatos eased the tip in, pushing forward slowly. He thought of how it felt to enter Thanatos himself as he focused on relaxing. He stroked his thickening cock, smoothing his free hand into Thanatos’s hair. 

“How does it feel?” asked Thanatos, his tone strained. 

“Good. You feel so big,” replied Zagreus, pulling down his lover’s face to bite his bottom lip. He shifted his hips and moaned, the echo disappearing down Thanatos’s throat. “Fuck me.”

Thanatos moved. It felt fluid and slick, not like the roughness of being chafed. 

He was methodical and concentrated, keeping his thrusts shallow. 

“Like this?” A bead of sweat gathered at the dip of his nose. Zagreus kissed it away. 

“If you’re going to take this slow, go deeper,” he managed. The only sound that his body desired to expel were moans and airless squeeks. Words were difficult. 

Thanatos slammed down into him, slapping against his ass with a force that made Zagreus gasp. 

“ _Fuck_.” 

He picked up on Zagreus’s directions, starting to speed up and gradually making his thrusts shallower. He punctuated these with the abrupt, hard strikes. Zagreus felt jagged power between his teeth, thunder rolling from deep within his chest as he moaned. 

“Zagreus,” groaned Thanatos, “ _tight.”_

“Y’like pounding my tight ass?” teased Zagreus. He tightened his kegel muscles and thrusted back. 

Thanatos sealed his mouth over Zagreus’s and moaned. He changed the pattern, his cock rubbing him the right way inside. They moved against each other. Thanatos hauled him closer, his fingers digging into the flesh of Zagreus’s thighs.

“Yes,” hissed Thanatos. His face contorted, a sign that he was close. “Goddammit Zagreus, _yes.”_

Zagreus jerked himself off in earnest, his body flooding with the heat of their energy. Thanatos rapidly drove into him, abandoning his calculated technique. Keeping up with him was a challenge given his fervor, but he didn’t care. He bore down, tightening himself as hard as he could around Thanatos’s cock.

Thanatos shook. His nails softened from Zagreus’s skin. He felt his seed inside, felt it drip from him onto the sheets. Zagreus wrapped his legs around Thanatos’s waist and rolled them onto their sides. Thanatos was breathing hard, his pupils still blown open. He stroked his hair silently, letting him mouth voiceless words against his chest. He waited until his lover’s breath had calmed before he spoke.

“I’ve been holding onto that token since before I left,” said Zagreus.

“Really?” murmured Thanatos.

“Yeah. I didn’t know when the right time was. I didn’t even say anything those first few times you came back to the House.”

“Were you nervous?”

“I guess so...I didn’t want us to change if you didn’t feel the same.”

“I don’t think a universe exists in which I wouldn’t be flattered by your attentions.” 

Zagreus laughed, slapping Thanatos’s shoulder.

“How long have you been holding onto that line, Tan?”

“It’s the truth,” he retorted, a faint flush appearing on his face.

“I’m happy,” replied Zagreus, kissing the place his palm struck. “Gods, you make me so happy, you know that?”

“I try.”


End file.
